Valdez said that only one deputy was guarding capital murder suspect Franklin Davis about 7:45 p.m. Sunday when Davis began struggling with the deputy. He overpowered him, causing minor injuries to the deputy, took the weapon and escaped into the night. But he didn’t go far. About 9:30 p.m., Dallas police SWAT officers surrounded a van near Harry Hines Boulevard and Oak Lawn Avenue. About two hours later, Davis surrendered and the deputy’s weapon was recovered. No one else was injured.

The sheriff said that “procedures were not followed and an error was made,” but she declined to give details of exactly what went wrong, saying that the entire episode is under review. Davis had been at Parkland since Saturday when he was admitted there with what Valdez described only as “severe complaints.”

Davis, 30, is charged with with the September slaying of 16-year-old Shania Gray of Carrollton, whose body was found Sept. 8 in an inlet of the Trinity River on the border of Irving and Dallas. The teenager had been expected to testify against Davis in October in a rape case. Authorities have said Davis has confessed to the crime.

In a statement released this afternoon, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said:

Parkland, Sheriff Valdez and the Commissioners Court broke ground this week on a state of the art $40 million dollar medical facility within the Dallas County Jail that, once completed, will virtually eliminate the need for inmates to be transported to outside hospitals. This illustrates the foresight and vigilance that has been at work within the Sheriff’s Dept. to address issues regarding inmate medical needs and security for the future of Dallas County.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who was instrumental in the successful effort to bring our jails into state and federal compliance, is spearheading the courts role in building this important in-jail medical facility.

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Criminal justice reporters, editors and invited guests provide news and analysis impacting Dallas-area police, courts, fire and other public safety issues and entities. Readers are encouraged to join the conversation.